On the adventure module "Wrath of the Immortals" The radiance became a deadly timebomb, practically laying waste to Mystara and taking away the continent of Alphatia. The problem was resolved, ultimately, by stuffing Rad in the radiance to regenerate it of sorts, then forcing the radiance to drain only off the Entropic sphere of magic from Mystara. This was suppose to be the fix to the problem, and thus no more Radiance problem. However, In The Glantri- Kingdom of Magic boxed set, set in 1018AC, The radiance is still a very large problem. In fact, it even has ways to calculate Radiance use and determain whether a day of dread, week of dread, or even WORSE is due for your campaign (The day of dread is a day without magic, which is near the end of the year. It is suppose to be standard if your following regular boxed rules). Now...my question. How many people here follow the radiance rules? How many discard them completely?
Myself, I count it. Preferabley because even if it's only drawring off the sphere of entropy, draining the magic out of any one sphere will greatly off-balance the rest, and should expectadly produce the same inevitable outcome if it's drained completely. This is, of course, up to every single DM here..so I wanted to know what other DM's thought of it. Thanks again for reading everyone....I look forward to the input. Fare Thee Well.
-Mystic Kind-
Masamune
Guess I just wanted to say hi to all of you that favor what i've come to believe is the greatest D&D Campaign ever created. Sure, it's small..smallest campaign ever actually...stuffed unto one continent....but yes, i'm sure your all familiar with that.
Not that small, actually. While of course Brun has been covered more than the other continents, there are description of almost one third of Davania (the southern continent, specifically the northern and eastern coast are covered in Dawn of the Emperors and the Voyage of the Princess Ark series). Parts of Skothar are also covered (Esterhold, Minaea, the Rakasta).
Plus, there are the Hollow World and the invisible moon of Myoshima that also add to the complexity and size of the setting.
The area of Mystara covered by published books is larger than, say, what is covered of Birthright and Dark Sun, and probably comparable with other settings as well.
How many people here follow the radiance rules? How many discard them completely?
Myself, I count it. Preferabley because even if it's only drawring off the sphere of entropy, draining the magic out of any one sphere will greatly off-balance the rest, and should expectadly produce the same inevitable outcome if it's drained completely. This is, of course, up to every single DM here..so I wanted to know what other DM's thought of it. Thanks again for reading everyone....I look forward to the input. Fare Thee Well.
Actually, if the NoS draws from Entropy, it should IMO make magic more abundant. This works well if you want to make Mystara higher-magic.
After a number of years of Entropy-draining, you might see spontaneous magic use (e.g., like the people of Old Alphatia, the Savage Coast legacies or the sorcerers of 3e), more common and active magical races (while monsters linked to entropy, like certain undead, may become more sluggish).
OTOH, you may rule that at some point, someone (Old Ones or Immortals) manages to restore the Energy draining effect (or you can drive your plotline to this end, especially useful for an Entropic campaign).
Actually, if the NoS draws from Entropy, it should IMO make magic more abundant. This works well if you want to make Mystara higher-magic.
After a number of years of Entropy-draining, you might see spontaneous magic use (e.g., like the people of Old Alphatia, the Savage Coast legacies or the sorcerers of 3e), more common and active magical races (while monsters linked to entropy, like certain undead, may become more sluggish).
I've read this before where people state that draining Entropy will increase magic across Mystara. I never really liked that. To me, it seems more like having less entropy would make things more "static" or "lawful" (to use a not-so-great term for the effect). In other words, the more the Radiance is used, the more difficult it becomes for things to change. I've always thought of it as similar to the effect on the Hollow World where there is a magical effect to keep cultures the same. Thoughts?
SBWilson- I see what you were saying about more Lawful in nature, due to the loss of entropic powers..but could you elaborate on your comment "the more the radiance is used, the harder it would become for things to change"? I didn't quite understand that, but quite interested in knowing what you mean by that.
I've read this before where people state that draining Entropy will increase magic across Mystara. I never really liked that. To me, it seems more like having less entropy would make things more "static" or "lawful" (to use a not-so-great term for the effect).
Well, the idea is that the standard NoS drains Energy, which is the Chaotic component of the "positive" (and usually Lawful) spheres. When it turns to draining Entropy, it should drain that part of Entropy that is directly opposed to Energy, that would be its Lawful component.
That's the reason why I think it could increase magic (and chaos) rather than stifle it.
As for Mystara being high-magic -- well, yes, it is high-magic (though I wouldn't say that Karameikos, Darokin, Rockhome or even Glantri are high-magic as far as OD&D goes) but it still isn't, say, Old Alphatia.
It seems to me that it could be a passable reason to add things like sorcerers and dwarven wizards, which otherwise should not appear in Mystara, for those people who use 3e (which does not include myself, BTW).
IMC, I will let this Entropy drain / Magic increase last a bit longer so that the Day of Dread eventually disappears before returning to the ways things are in the Gaz series.
Ofcourse, the discussion of what other effects draining elements of Entropy could have are incredibly interesting, so keep discussing them, though the above is sadly the closest to an official sollution.
I think Bruce and Aaron had other things in mind when Aaron wrote WotI though, but they must have been abandoned when the AD&D team took over.
Håvard
).That just opens up a high/immortal-level adventure where the NoS is forcibly changed back (maybe the players have to work together with Benekander and Thanatos
Indeed!
Thanks for reminding me never to pass on a good scenario opportunity! I should think that especially if the PCs were active during WotI, they would be interested in fixing the problems created by those events...
Håvard
Indeed!
Thanks for reminding me never to pass on a good scenario opportunity! I should think that especially if the PCs were active during WotI, they would be interested in fixing the problems created by those events...
Håvard
Players/character intelligent enough to get to that level, and stupid enough to work with Thanatos...
Although if he was pretending to be someone else (and why would Benekander know given that he is largely outside the immortal hierarchy)
There is always the possibility that some of the players are chaotic and would love to help Thanatos.
Some of the characters may be as well. ;)
Regards,
Gary